Since featuring in his first Ligue 1 game of the 2019/20 season back on 15 January in Stade de Reims’ 1-1 draw away to Amiens SC, Moreto Cassamá went on to make another six league appearances in the heart of Les Rouge et Blanc’s midfield to take his total of Ligue 1 appearances up to seven for the 2019/20 season, prior to the postponement of the professional game in France.
It may be fair to say that Reims have been one of the more formidable sides in Ligue 1 this term. They managed to get themselves into fifth place on the Ligue 1 table, just nine points away from the UEFA Champions League qualification places, when play came to a halt in France. Furthermore, Reims have got the best defensive record of any Ligue 1 side in the 2019/20 campaign.
With that in mind, it may be a credit to Cassamá that he managed to earn himself a regular place in Reims’ midfield in the second half of the 2019/20 season. In this tactical analysis piece, we will examine some of the key aspects to Cassamá’s game and we will attempt to explain just what he brought to the table for his side on the pitch that may have made Reims boss David Guion stand up and take notice of the 22-year-old Guinea-Bissau international after the turn of the year.
This tactical analysis piece in the form of a scout report will attempt to examine how Cassamá has fit into Reims’ tactics since earning himself a place in the side and we will attempt to provide some analysis of his role within Les Rouge et Blanc’s system.
Cassamá’s role in-possession
Cassamá generally plays in a holding midfield role for his side. He has performed this role on both the right and the left of a double-pivot within Reims’ frequently-used 4-2-3-1 shape at times this season. Additionally, he has also played as a lone holding midfielder in a 4-1-4-1 shape, notably in Reims’ recent 1-0 win over Rennes, who currently occupy one of Ligue 1’s Champions League qualification places alongside Olympique de Marseille and PSG.
Regardless of which exact position he is playing in, Cassamá tends to perform a similar role, as he generally acts as the deepest of his team’s midfielders, rarely venturing too far forward. When his team are in possession of the ball, Cassamá often positions himself between Reims’ backline and their other midfielders, attempting to act as a player who can link those two lines together and play an important role in helping his side to build out from the back.
Furthermore, Cassamá often noticeably drops even deeper than normal during the build-up phase to collect the ball from his defenders or goalkeeper to feet and subsequently use his range of passing to progress the play.
In this image above, we can see that the 22-year-old midfielder is in possession of the ball, in the process of playing a pass from this central position out to the full-back who is advancing down the wing.
Earlier on in this particular passage of play, Cassamá had been positioned slightly further up the pitch, closer to Reims’ two more advanced ‘8’s and in between the opponent’s two centre forwards.
